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Dec 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM

DublinWhen you live beside the best producer of public service television in the world, all other broadcasters tend to suffer in comparison.Sorry, PBS, that means you. But it isn’t entirely your fault.Like...

Dublin

When you live beside the best producer of public service television in the world, all other broadcasters tend to suffer in comparison.

Sorry, PBS, that means you. But it isn’t entirely your fault.

Like most Bostonians, I grew up with an unquestioned reverence for Channel 2. This was real television, motivated in the main to educate and instruct us through honest and dependable programs like “Zoom” and “Nova.”

If the station also served to entertain and amuse us — as it did in the early 1970s when it bought in “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” — that was a happy byproduct.

Of course, it’s worth noting that “Downton Abbey” — PBS’s most recent hit import from Britain, which kicks off its fourth season on Jan. 5 — isn’t a publicly-funded production at all. When it’s shown on the commercial station ITV on this side of the water, there are ad breaks aplenty.

Since moving to Dublin in 1992, I’ve had my eyes opened where public service TV is concerned. The British Broadcasting Corporation — which serves as a model of sorts for Ireland’s state broadcaster RTE (Radio Telefis Eireann) — has its detractors, but one can’t ignore the generally high quality and admirable diversity of its programs.

Indeed, a comparison of an average week’s BBC schedule with a similar output on Boston’s PBS affiliate makes for uncomfortable reading if you have a natural affection for WGBH.

Aside from a few stellar shows, Channel 2’s nightly line-up is distinguished by blandness and repetition, while its daytime schedule features a predictable assortment of well-intentioned children’s programs.

No offense is intended here, but with cable outlets like HBO, Showtime and AMC now stepping up to the mark to challenge and surpass the main networks in the quality of their shows, PBS is starting to look even more irrelevant.

As I discover whenever I sit down in front of the telly, the BBC is the complete package, offering an original schedule of dramas, documentaries, quiz shows, sporting events and comedies on its two main channels plus several emerging digital outlets. In fact, we can thank the BBC for bringing to the small screen the comic genius of Ricky Gervais in “The Office” and Steve Coogan — lately starring in “Philomena” with Judi Dench — in “I’m Alan Partridge.”

In contrast, no U.S. comedian or sitcom writer worth his funny bone would dream of pitching a pilot series to PBS.

Despite an abundance of native talent on which to draw, it just isn’t in public broadcasting’s rather earnest DNA to encourage laughter.

Of course, public broadcasting in the U.S. needn’t be TV’s ugly stepsister, unwanted and unwatched. But beauty doesn’t come cheap. Which brings us to the elephant in the living room: money.

According to its 2012-13 fiscal report, the BBC benefited from 3.66 billion pounds (or roughly $6 billion) in license fee revenue over that period (every TV owner in the country is required to pay 145 pounds a year — or nearly $240 — to subsidize the service, which includes 10 national radio stations and numerous local outlets).

In addition, the BBC generated another 1.1 billion pounds from its commercial enterprises — DVDs, CDs and print publications — and a further 345 million pounds in government grants and other income.

In contrast, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in the U.S., which helps fund both PBS and NPR, received $445 million in taxpayer money in 2013. Half of this amount goes directly to local public TV stations, with a further $145 million used for radio and TV program development.

And unlike in the U.K. — where the license fee is admittedly a contentious issue — Congress sought to eliminate any funding of public television as recently as 2011.

So PBS, you’re forgiven your anemic schedule. And it’s understandable that you have to buy in lavish period dramas like “Downton Abbey.” On your budget, it’s a wonder you’re broadcasting at all.

Boston native Steve Coronella (sbcoro@eircom.net) has lived in Ireland since 1992. His new novel is “Designing Dev.”

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